Herbert t



H. T. CHERRY AND 1. R. CARTER.

CELL CASE. .AgLlcATmN FILED lumzs. 1919'.

Patented Dec. 30,1919.

UNITED, STATES 'PATENT CFFICE.

HERBERT T. CHERRY AND JAMES R. CARTER, OF TAMA, IOWA, ASSIGNORS TO J. G.CHERRY COMPANY, 0F CEDAR RAPIIS, IOWA, A CORPORATION OF IOWA.

CELL-CASE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 30, 1919 Application led June 25, 1919. Serial No.306,538.

ment'the cases or crates are often subjected to rough usage, causing'the cell walls to yield or collapse and the cell cases to shift ,bodilyin the crate orbox andresulting in more or less damage to the cell casesand the eggs. Various means have been -suggested for bracing the cellwalls, but these have usually involved specially designed cases or moreor less complicated constructions which are too costly to becommercially practicable or are otherwise objectionable. Efforts havealso been made to prevent the cell cases from shifting in the' crate orbox by extending the ends of the intersecting wall strips beyond theouter strips of the case to form buli'ers which engagethe sides of thecrate or box, and while this hasundoubtedly reduced the liability ofshifting to some extent it has not proven entirely` sufficient.

It is customary to pack thirty dozen eggs "in a crate or box and to usethe cell cases and flats but once. Consequently these cell cases andflats must be made of simple construction so that they can be used byunskilled persons and they must be sold at`low cost since they ,areseldom if ever Vused a second time.

The obj ect of our invention is to provide a flat of novel form andstrong construction which can be engaged with a cell case to reinforceand strengthen the sides of the individual cells and to protect the caseas a whole against bodily shifting movement in a box or crate. l

A further object of ourinvention is to provide a at which can be readilyengaged with cells of any standard construction, which will occupy nomore space than an ordinary plain flat and which can be produced at lowcost.

In the accompany Ing drawings illustrating l is not limited to a cellcasey constructed in.

any particular manner but it is adapted for use with all kinds ofstandard cell cases, as wlll be readily understood; In these cell kcasesthe ends 6', 7 of the strips project beyond the outer strips of the caseto form buifers which engage the walls of the crate or box in which the4cases are packed, one above the other, with a Hat on the top of eachcell case in the usual manner.

Our improved flat 8 comprises a sheet of straw-board or other suitable.material which is provided at intervals with one or more longitudinaldepressions 9 extending in parallel relation from one end of the sheetto the opposite end thereof. Between these depressions there is a fiatsection 10, the arrangement being such that when the llat is placed inposition upon a cell case, as shown in Fig. 1, the depressions 9 will belocated between the cell strips 7 running in one direction and the flatsections 10 will rest on said strips and also on the strips 6 at theintersections. In the preferred form of the invention illustrated inFigs. 1 and 2 the depressions are comparatively wide and shallow and theflat sections are about as wide as the depressions, making, `in effect,a corrugated flat. The depressed corrugations 9 are provided with slits11 at intervals to engage the cell strips 6 so that the depressedportions of the entire Hat within the outer walls of the case will liewithin the cells, and the intermediate portions will rest uponthe top ofthe case. These corrugations may be made in a variety of ways, some ofwhich we have shown in the drawings. In Fig. 3 there are two narrowcorrugations 12 with an intermeidate wide corrugation 13; in Fig. 4there are three corrugations 14 of the same general width and shape, andin Fig.

-5 there is an angular corrugation 15. We

do not limit ourselves to the particular number or to the shape of thecorrugatlons employed but, as before stated, there are certainadvantages derived from the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2 which we thinkmake it desirable. This form is comparatively easy to make, the widecorrugations engage the wall strips for a considerable length toreinforce and strengthen them and the Hat to engage the wall stripsrunning in the other direction at each of the cells of the case.

The flat is made of sufficient size to project beyond the outer wallstrips of the case a distance corresponding to that of the buffer ends6, 7 so that the edges of the flat will engage the walls ofthe crate orbox like i. these buffers. The corrugated edges of the fiat are muchstronger than the plain edges and consequently the flat is strengthenedat these edges which not onlytends to preserve the flat itself but alsomaterially strengthens the case and prevents the case from shifting inthe direction of the corrugations. If the Hats in a crate or box arearranged with their corrugations running alternately lengthwise andcrosswise it will be seen that the entire stack of cases will bereinforced by the Hats and strengthened at the edges against bodilyshifting movement.

In practice a flat is arranged on top of each cell case and it will bereadily under.

stood that by the corrugated form of the Hat and the interlockingengagement of the Hat with the wall strips of the cell case, the wallsof each cell and the case as a whole are made much stronger andmore-rigid. The cell walls which are interlocked with the flat byengagement with the slits therein are materially strengthened and theother walls are also strengthened by reason of this interlockingengagement and by the intermediate section between depressedcorrugations resting thereon. While we have found it desirable to makethis intermediate section flat, substantially as shown in Figs. l and 2,we appreciate the fact that it may be made curved like an ordinarycorrugation, and the depressed corrugations similarly made if sodesired, and we contemplate this form as a part of our invention andwithin the scope of our claims.

The improved flat can be produced at very low cost because of its simpleconstruction andwe particularly direct attention to the fact that it canbe used with any standard form of cell case, in'fact any form which hasno projections above the plane of the top of the cells and with whichthe slitted corrugations may be engaged and interlocked. This is adesirable feature of the invention because it does not depend in any wayupon any particular manner of interlocking the cell wall strips or tocell cases of any special construction.

When a plurality of these cell cases are arranged one upon the other,with interposed flats within a ,crate or box, the depressed corrugationsin the fiat on the top of one case will form seats for the eggs in thecase resting on that fiat. And while our invention is particularlyadapted for cell cases for shipping eggs it may be adapted for manyother articles which are shipped in cell cases.

We are aware that changes in the form 'and constructionl of parts may be`made,

- some of which have been pointed out, without departing from the spiritof our invention and we reserve the right to make all such changes asfairly fall within the scope of the appended claims. v

1. The combination` of a cell case comprising a plurality ofintersecting and interlocking wall strips forming cells theref between,and a flat arranged on said case and having parallel depressions withtransverse slits therein to engage opposite wall strips of saidcells-and intermediate plain sections to rest upon the other wall stripsof the cells.

2. The combination of a cell case com prising a plurality ofintersecting andv interlocking wall strips` forming cells therebetween,and a flat having spaced slits to engage the edges of opposite wallstrips of said cells, that portion of the flat between each pairjofslits being depressed to fit between the wall strips engaged by saidslits.

3. The combination of a cell case comprising a'r plurality ofintersecting and interlocking wall strips forming cells therebetween..and a at arranged on said case and consisting of a sheet havingcorrugations extending in one direction formingparallel alteratingdepressions and elevations; said depressions' having transverse slitsextending through the sheet to receive edge portions of opposite wallstrips so that said depressions will lie below the plane of the upperedges of the stripsand the elevations will lie above the plane of theupper edges of the strips. j' j 4. The combination of a cell casecomprising a plurality of intersecting and interlocking wall stripsforming cells therebetween. the ends of said strips projecting beyondthe outside walls of the case to form buffers, and a Hat arranged onsaid case with its edges projecting beyond the outside walls of the-caseto correspond with said buffers, said flat having depressions inopposite edges to lie between adjacent buffers and plain sectionsbetween said depressions to engage said buffers.

Aso

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5. A flat for a cell case consisting of a ing in one direction; saiddepressions being 'l sheet having a plurality 0i' paralleldepresslittedtransverselyat spaced. intervals. sions therein extendlng 1n onedlrection,

N HERBERT T. CHERRY. sind de resslonwbemg slitted transversal at spacgdintervals. y JAMES R' CARTER' 6. A at for a cell case consisting of a.Witnesses: sheet lmvingn plurality of parallel alternat- EDWIN M. BAKER,ing depressions and plain sections extend- ROBERT T. SMITH. n

